


Red Giant

by Stuck_in_Pylea



Series: From The Mixed Up Files of Dr. Ivy Mitchell [4]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bechloe being sappy and gross, Canon Bisexual Character, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Light Angst, Minor Character Death, No Plot/Plotless, Older Bechloe, Romance, Same-Sex Marriage, Science, Slice of Life, We all gonna learn some shit, learning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29737575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stuck_in_Pylea/pseuds/Stuck_in_Pylea
Summary: A series of one-shots starring Ivy Mitchell, the daughter of Beca and Chloe, at various stages of her life. Beca, Chloe, and other characters pop in from time to time because they’re such a close-knit family.Also science, a healthy dose of science.
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Series: From The Mixed Up Files of Dr. Ivy Mitchell [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998244
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Red Giant

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to thank my beta Another Bechloe Shipper for her patience and her insights which have been invaluable to me. 
> 
> I’d also like to thank iPhone(Theresa) for her consultation regarding graduate students, the differences between TA’s and RA’s, and general questions about Ph.D. Students.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivy’s living her best life, working towards her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins when an unexpected guest shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this and have been impressed with my content then like, subscribe(to me), bookmark, and maybe even tell your homies.

_**Johns Hopkins University.** _

_**Ph.D. program.** _

_**Year three.** _

_**The apartment of the soon-to-be Dr. Ivy Mitchell.** _

_**8:00 am** _

Ivy chews her bottom lip. Green residue from the dry-erase marker rubs off on the bottom of her fist, not that she can bring herself to care too much. It’s not erasing a vital number or sign in the equation.

“You chose this over jerking off,” she mumbles under her breath sarcastically, still biting her bottom lip. She’ll slate it. She always does. The mathematics is part of the challenge, the puzzle that fuels her lifeblood. Planets are her passion, duh, her Ph.D. is in Planetary Sciences with a focus on geology. Were this Tombaugh [Regio](https://imgur.com/gallery/XqoQlqr), the heart-shaped glacier on Pluto she could write _another_ thesis on it.

Aphelion is another story.

Dr. Bianca Klugh (pronounced like clue) believes there’s potential in the young woman. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have hired Ivy as a research assistant. She mentally pats herself on the back for having enough foresight to get her Masters. It’s opened up quite a few doors for her, which would’ve never been possible had she jumped straight from Bachelor’s to her Doctorate.

Ivy steps back from her dry-erase board. Holding the tip of the marker to her chin, the redhead scans the equation. Boy, she can’t wait to map out the orbit of this rather peculiar dwarf planet. The notoriety she’ll get from having her name attached to this discovery along with Dr. Klugh and Carly Truitt is fucking exhilarating.

Looking across the room to her model of the New Horizons probe on her bookshelf, the young researcher can’t help but put the cart before the horse. She stands among the halls of greatness, this campus, _her_ campus, built New Horizons to fly by Pluto, MESSENGER to orbit Mercury, Dragonfly to study Titan, which was the main reason Ivy set her sights on the prestigious college in her teenage years.   
  


God, [Titan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_\(moon\)), Ivy’s favorite celestial body; she’ll get it someday. A precious coveted role as Principal Investigator on a mission to the famous moon of Saturn.

Ivy can feel it in her heart of hearts.  
  


For now, she’ll look at her New Horizons model, imagining herself on the team to design a probe to go study this potential dwarf planet. Oh god, even if it means the technical payload is only enough to snap one quick photo - a single photo to be immortalized throughout history.

She hopes the clout will get her Titan.

A knock on the door pulls Ivy Mitchell from her fantasy. It's a little too early for company; Ivy hopes it’s not a student. She doesn’t like it when they come to her apartment, which happens on occasion. The twenty-six-year-old tosses the marker onto her desk. It’s too goddamn early in the morning for this shit, and all Ivy wants to do is scrawl out her equations, and imagine walking on her favorite moons in peace, whoever this is better have a good goddamn reason...

“Mama!”

Chloe Mitchell wrenches off her aviators. “Surprise!”

Ivy wastes no time wrangling her mother into a bear hug, forcing her mom to drop the duffel bag on the tile floor. “Did you make a wrong turn, cause you’re here in Baltimore?” Ivy says, softly resting her head into the crook of her mother’s neck. God the smell of strawberry shampoo reminds the young woman of home so much. It’s a chore not to cry right then and there. “I can’t believe you’re here Mama,” Ivy kisses her on the cheek.

Chloe rubs her daughter's back before breaking the hug. “AMVA convention. Plus, I can’t not drop by and check on my baby,” she quickly kisses her daughter on the cheek before she forgets. “You gonna let your mama stand in this sweaty hallway or are you gonna finally let me see your office, babe?” Chloe smiles.

“It’s not an office, Mama, I live here,” Ivy says.

“So, home office?” Chloe chuckles, “I’ve missed you so much hon”

“I miss you and Mom like you wouldn’t believe,” Ivy smiles, like a good daughter she carries her mother’s bag and sets it on the other end of the sectional. “So, this is the whole shebang,” Ivy gestures with her hand, “Take a seat.”

“Smartass,” Chloe shakes her head, lovingly. The older woman loves her children dearly, Chloe’s proud Ivy has her own personality, proud that she takes after another delightful wise ass she knows. “Where’s your roomie?” Chloe eyes the two white dry erase boards on opposite ends of the living area, she’s delighted her daughter’s board is covered, while the other has a few papers taped to it and some drawings.

“Khari’s visiting her boyfriend in NYC,” Ivy says.

Khari Scott is her roommate, a med student fresh out of U Michigan. Two doctors living together sounds like a recipe for disaster or a lame sitcom, but in all honesty, the girls love each other. Ivy considers Khari one of her closest friends.

Chloe doesn’t sit down, though. She walks around the small apartment, taking in everything. The last time Chloe Mitchell was here, the place was empty, Ivy just having moved in. On the wall she spotted one of her favorite sights in the entire world, well top ten favorite, anyway. The records of her daughter’s achievements are proudly displayed. Ivy’s BS in Physics from the University of Arizona, Ivy’s Master of Science in Astrophysics/Astronomy from Arizona State University (Ivy will deny until her dying day that she’s a Sundevil, Wildcats for life!). Chloe thinks of the late Bob Ross and what he would say, “Ivy’s two degrees are a little lonely, they need a friend. Maybe a happy little Ph.D. in a happy little frame.”

Chloe feels a swell of pride. She's so proud of her daughter, her son too. Logan is a successful photographer in New York City. Beca and she lucked out, they hit the jackpot. Their children are the greatest.

“I’m so proud of you honey. Your mom and I both are,” Chloe has to wipe her misty eyes.

Ivy rolls her eyes, “I know, Mama.” 

Chloe gives her daughter a soft punch on the shoulder, “Take the compliment, babe,” Chloe smiled.

“How’s Mom?” Ivy asks earnestly.

Chloe smiles dreamily, “Just as beautiful and fine as the day I met her. She’s actually in Jacksonville scouting out this promising new band the label might wanna sign.”

“And she just leaves you all alone?” Ivy jokes, knowing full well her mom knows she’s kidding. Unlike most couples, distance only makes their longing for each other grow fonder. When her wife comes back home, Chloe has a feeling Beca and she will cuddle and snuggle up outside in front of their fire pit with a couple of glasses of wine, stealing kisses and touches while they watch the flames dance. Throw in a warm flannel blanket, and the couple will be in for a near-perfect evening.

Chloe redirects her attention to the dry erase board across the living room.

“So, is this the Theory of Relativity?” Chloe asks, referring to the equations scrawled on her daughter’s board, in concise and beautiful penmanship she might add, take that Khari!

Ivy chuckles. “Not exactly, although Relativity plays a part in it. Do you remember what I told you and Mom at Thanksgiving a few years ago, about Relativity?” Ivy asks.

“Relativity is just a fancy term for gravity,” Chloe recalls, proudly.

“Pretty much, the more mass an object has, the greater it warps space. And the stronger its gravitational pull.”

“Like dropping a bowling ball in the middle of a blanket,” Chloe smiles.

“So, this,” she points at the equation on the board, “is the aphelion of what we think is a Dwarf Planet.”

Chloe cocks an eyebrow, “Aphelion?” she questions, genuinely curious, and her daughter is all too happy to explain. Seriously, Ivy has the best moms in the world. Chloe and Beca, and even her brother Logan have always been wonderfully supportive of her passion for planets and space.

“So, Perihelion is an object’s closest distance to the sun,” Ivy brings her hands together as if she’s holding an invisible ball in her hands, “Aphelion is an object’s furthest distance from the sun. That’s what I’m figuring out. I’ve almost got it too, Mama!”

“Keep at it, sweetheart. Remember if you will it-”

“It is no dream,” Ivy finishes Herzl’s famous quote. Ivy knows she’ll crack it. Perihelion and aphelion are not the white whales of scientists, give it another couple of days, they’ll be moving onto spectroscopy. Chloe stands in front of her daughter in awkward silence, wondering where they go from here.

“So...you staying in a cushy, kickass hotel, or...” Ivy trails off, not wanting her mom to leave, but also she doesn’t want to bore her or keep her here after her flight. Chloe’s probably tired, and with Ivy’s other mom being out of town, the young Ph.D. student assumes Chloe will want to video call with Beca and let her know she got in safely and visited their daughter.

“Of course, Babe,” Chloe pecks her daughter’s cheek, “technically I don’t need to check in until tomorrow so I can stay a little while longer if you’ll have me?” Chloe smiles, she sits on the end of Ivy’s sectional.

“Stay with me!” Ivy blurts out, “tonight if you want.”

Chloe beams, her smile extends across her entire face. “Yeah! We can hang out, just us girls!”

“I have a class to teach in thirty minutes then a web interview later, after that I’m all free,” Ivy says.

Chloe rummages through her duffel bag, which she plopped on her daughter’s sectional which was doubling as her bed for the time being, until Ivy buys a new one. “Ooooh, what class are you teaching?”

With curious eyes, Ivy watches her mom pull a thin white blanket out of her bag, “I teach Planetary Atmospheres today and Thursdays, and Intro to Stellar Physics on Mondays and Wednesdays,” she says, once again patting herself on the back mentally because the master’s degree in astrophysics opened up the door for her to teach stellar physics.

Chloe unfolds the sheet, “I bet all the kids think you’re the cool teacher, rolling into class with your KISS shirt.” Chloe gestured to her daughter’s shirt with the visage of the legendary rock band decked out in full garb like they own the world - for a time they did.

“I guess,” Ivy shrugs, “I don’t like teaching, I wanna be a researcher, Mama.”

Chloe tosses the sheet over the cushion of the side of the sectional she’ll be sleeping on, “I know you don’t like teaching sweetheart, even though you’re great at it,” Chloe marches over to kiss her daughter on the cheek, “You’re almost there, hon, you just have to keep inching towards the finish line. A research job will come, in time.”

Ivy sighs, “I guess. What’s the blanket for?”

Chloe smirks then bites her bottom lip, “Have you had sex on this couch?” Chloe asks, earnestly.

“Oh boy,” Ivy says, lolling her head back.

“Hey,” Chloe reaches out to her daughter, once she has Ivy’s attention, Chloe shifts over into serious mother mode, “Sweetheart, what did your mom and I always tell you?”

“That sour patch kids are gummy bears who turned to drugs,” Ivy deadpans with a cheeky grin.

Chloe chuckles, “I still stand by that, but seriously sweetie your mom and I raised you and your brother in a very open and sex-positive household. Don’t you ever be ashamed of exploring your body or your curiosities. Fuck what society says, be proud of who you are and what you enjoy, and don’t ever let anyone, especially any man, ever tell you any different or make you feel guilty, honey. When I was your age and in my thirties I was having some of the best orgasms of my life!” Chloe admits, shamelessly.

Ivy can’t help but turn red-faced, she loves her moms, but good lord they tend to overshare sometimes.

Chloe continues, “You’re young, sweetheart, get as much as you can! Express yourself sexually, and don’t let age slow you down” Chloe’s eyes trail off, as if she’s recalling a very recent fond memory, a dreamy smile is transfixed on her face. “Like, despite our age your mom and I still have a very healthy, very _active_ sex lif-”

“Okay, yikes. Too much information!” Ivy cuts her mom off. Chloe stops abruptly.“I don’t really feel comfortable having this conversation with you, Mama,” Ivy groans.

Chloe quirks an eyebrow in curiosity, she’s genuinely bewildered. “You don’t?”

Ivy sighs, “Yes, Mama. We had the sex talk when I was fifteen.”

“Oh,” Chloe says.

“Then again right before I left for undergrad school.”

“Oh,” Chloe throws a hand over her head, “Senior moment, I guess.” she laughs it off.

“Yeahhhhh.” Ivy doesn’t like hearing those words coming from her mom. Chloe is sixty-one, and while Ivy is confident her moms still have quite a few years left in them, she still doesn’t like thinking about them getting older. The young student knows that she’ll be heartbroken when their time comes, and she won’t be that old. Chloe had her when she was thirty-five.

Ivy will still have Logan, who despite being her brother, is her best friend in the whole world, and she doesn’t tell him that as much as she should, and losing one of her moms means losing a lifelong friend. Ivy feels her eyes beginning to mist; she pulls her mama into another tight hug.

“The blanket is just a precaution, babe, in case you haven’t washed the cushions,” Chloe smiles while hugging her daughter back, god they’re such a close family. Ivy makes a mental note to hurry up and find a new mattress for her bed so her moms can sleep in her bed and avoid conversations about their weird sex life. Until then the sectional is fulfilling its duty as runner up.

Ivy lets out an airy chuckle at her mom’s comment. “Gotta jet, I’ll be back soon. Make yourself at home, I love you, Mama!” Ivy gives her mom a peck on the cheek.

“Your roomie won’t mind me staying here, will she?” Chloe asks.  
  


“Nuh-uh,” Ivy says, only half paying attention. The student is busy stuffing notebooks and her planner into her satchel.

“Love you too, baby!” Chloe calls out. Ivy ruffles her hair one final time before she’s out the door. Within minutes Chloe watches her daughter trek through the grounds of the massive university. The sixty-one-year-old can't help but smile, she and Beca are so proud of their children. Settling on the sectional, determined not to succumb to boredom, Chloe decides to call Beca, to let her know she got in, and she’ll be staying with their daughter tonight.

Once Beca is clued in, Chloe leans back to make herself comfortable. The older woman scrolls through her phone until the cursor lands on her son’s name. A chat with Logan will be refreshing; they can catch up on how his photography career is going, and Chloe can remind her son for the _thousandth_ time that even if it doesn’t work out, he can come back home where he always has a place to stay.

* * *

Chloe doesn’t even hear the keys rattle before she’s startled by the sudden reappearance of her daughter. “Hey hon, how was class?” Chloe flips the slices of bacon, then stirs the eggs. The intoxicating scent of a hearty breakfast lightens Ivy’s sour mood, only a little though.

“I love it when dudes mansplain shit to me as if I don’t have two degrees in Physics,” she groans in defeat.

Chloe pouts, “That bad, huh?” She offers a cooked strip of bacon to her daughter along with a brief hug and a peck on the cheek. “Men are threatened by you because they know you are smarter, and it makes them feel powerless.”

“Bacon makes everything better,” Ivy says, munching on the bacon, “You didn’t need to do all this, Mama,” she’s gestures over the stove.

“I know, but I want to,” Chloe pouts playfully. The older woman spoons scrambled eggs on a plate for both her and her daughter then uses the tongs to divvy up an equal amount of bacon. “So, a few douchebags aside, how was the rest of your class, baby?” Chloe smiles. They sit across from each other at the chintzy fold-out table. Chloe hopes Ivy will go into details; Chloe loves _details_ , she and Beca always made a concentrated effort to involve themselves by lending a supportive ear or set of eyes whenever their daughter wanted to discuss her passion, or maybe watch a movie or documentary. Chloe and Beca never wanted their children to grow up feeling isolated or met with incredulity or ostracism for their interests like she and her wife were when they were younger.

“‘S’good,” Ivy says with food in her mouth, “I’m teaching them about aurora.”

Chloe nibbles her eggs, “Other planets have aurora borealis?” she asks.

Chloe notices her daughter vibrating in her seat, hardly able to contain herself, her glee is so strong. “Uh-huh,” Ivy shotguns her glass of milk, “See when the solar wind from the sun comes into contact with charged ions from the magnetic fields in a planet’s polar regions, it creates aurora. It’s really cool Mama because on Jupiter and Saturn they look like sick fuckin’ plasma storms!”

Chloe nods her head approvingly, “That’s so interesting, sweetheart. You know-” Chloe fixes a mischievous smile on her face, “Your mom and I once made out under the aurora borealis in Alaska!”

Ivy rolls her eyes, “Why are you like this?” she asks. Chloe pats her daughter’s knee and chuckles.

“So, what’s this interview about?” Chloe asks.

Ivy takes another bite of her eggs, “It’s part of this outreach program Hopkins has where the STEMies are partnered up with a podcaster with a growing audience.”

“Ooh, that-” Chloe pauses to take another bite of bacon then wash it down with milk, “is a really good idea.”

There’s something so endearing about watching her mom eat because Ivy herself eats like a bird too. Just picking and nibbling away at a meal little by little. Mother and daughter finish their breakfast in comfortable silence, no distance to them, no awkward dead air, despite knowing each other for twenty-six years they never run out of things to talk about, or learn, or discover about each other. The Mitchell family dynamic is one many families envy. No stubborn destructive ego, no pretension; just passion, compassion, and empathy channeled in all the right avenues.

The two redheads who used to be, and sometimes still are mistaken for sisters because of their looks, finish their hearty breakfast with smiles and full bellies ten minutes later.

“I talked to your brother while you were out,” Chloe said.

Ivy pulls out her phone, “Shit. I need to text him back.”

“You two still meet up monthly for dinner and a movie?”

Ivy looks at her mom, proud that she and her brother have such a close relationship. Part of her wants to impress Chloe with that information, even though Ivy knows it’s pointless. Their moms are insanely proud their children are each other’s best friends. Ivy chalks it up to the competitive drive she inherited from Chloe. “Yup. As often as we can when his hands aren’t full with Abby.”

Chloe runs her fingers through her daughter’s hair, “Well if it’s alright with you, I’m going to take a shower. You text your brother and get ready for your podcast interview, Ivy Hope.”

“Of course it’s alright,” Ivy says, she collects both hers and Chloe’s plates then makes a beeline into the kitchen area, “Have a good shower, Mama,” Ivy calls out over the running sink water.

* * *

Ivy makes herself comfortable at her desk, mumbling under her breath about the shitty 480p quality of the video resolution, briefly wondering if she should’ve made computer sciences her major? It’s 2050, there’s no excuse for this shit anymore. Ivy plans on mentioning it to her friends in engineering.

A man in his twenties pops onto Ivy’s screen. He’s cute, she notes, well-coifed black hair and faint stubble.

“Ivy?” he asks

“Ken?” she asks, cautiously.

“Yeah. So, you hanging in there this morning?” Ken asks.

“I guess,” Ivy shrugs, “Are you going to do the whole intro thing?” she asks.

Ken chuckles. “Already took care of it, they know who you are, Ivy.”

Ivy visibly relaxes. “That’s a relief.”

“Yeah. We like to keep it super casual on the Ken Marshall show. So, tell us, Ivy, what’re you studying at Johns Hopkins?”

Ivy smiles, “So my doctorate is in Earth and Planetary Sciences with a focus in lunar and planetary geology.”

“Awesome. So, like do Jupiter and Saturn have geology or are they just gas?” he asked.

“Not really, and yes. My chosen planets of study are dwarf planets.”

“Dwarf planets? I bet that’s hard to get data off of?”

Ivy nods her head in agreement, “It can be, luckily we have two that have been visited,” she says. “Pluto and Ceres.”

“What’s Ceres?” Ken asks.

“Okay,” Ivy lets out a giddy smile, “So Ceres is a dwarf planet, that’s actually in the asteroid belt. The only dwarf planet inside the orbit of Neptune. The rest are Trans-Neptunian.”

“I remember when New Horizons released the photos of Pluto and it had that little heart on it, does Ceres have any active features or geology?” he asks.

“Ceres is a lot like Mercury. Its geological engine ran out of fuel a long time ago. Now it’s mostly craters and the occasional cryovolcano.”

“And those are ice volcanoes, right?”

Ivy tilts her hand back and forth, making the kinda-sorta gesture, “In a way, yes. They spew water which then crystallizes into ice and either plummets out into space or build up sediment around the volcano.”

“Awesome, so Ivy for all the young women in our audience what made you want to be a scientist and study space?” Ken asks.

“When I was fourteen, I took a trip to a planetarium with my freshman class and it blew my fucking mind!” she recalls as if it were yesterday, the moment she discovered her destiny, her true calling.

Settled up all cozy on the sectional, covered in a warm blanket and listening to her audiobook with only one headphone, Chloe watches her daughter carry on like the pro she is. The seasoned veterinarian even smiled and waved to the camera when the host and...other inquiring minds wanted to know who the woman in the background was. Chloe smiled as Ivy proudly gave her a shout out, introducing her as Dr. Chloe Mitchell.

When the interview winds down, Chloe mutes her audiobook so she can listen to her daughter explain the final question.

“So, Ivy, I have one more question before I go: do you think aliens are out there, and will they ever come visit us?” Ken asks.

“The Fermi paradox,” Ivy sighs with a lazy smile. “Yes I think intelligent life exists on other planets. But special relativity tells us the speed of light is the universal speed limit, and nothing with mass can achieve it. Which means no spaceships, no warp speed, nothing. Even if a race of little green people achieved fifty percent the speed of light, the universe is huge! It might take them a million years to reach a habitable solar system. It kinda sucks, any sentient race is pretty much limited to exploring their back yard,” Ivy confesses, it’s a depressing answer to an optimistic question. The young scientist doesn’t want to discourage young people from perusing space sciences, but to lie to them or feed them false promises would be an incredible disservice.

“So if we want any kind of future like Star Trek we’re gonna have to send robots out there to do our bidding?” Ken jokes.

Ivy laughs, “That’s one way to do it.”

Chloe frowns at her daughter’s answer, only for a couple of seconds before a smile crept back up at just how wonderful and smart her little girl is, yes Ivy and Logan will always be her babies, no matter how old. The veterinarian listens to her daughter conclude the interview and offer to come back on anytime they want, Ivy jokingly offered to be their “space correspondent.”

“Final-fucking-ly, now I have some free time, not that it wasn’t fun, wanna go out to lunch and then dinner later?” Ivy turns to ask her mom.

“I’d love to, babe,” Chloe smiles. “You know...he was kinda cute,” Chloe teases.

“Mom!” Ivy groans exasperatingly.

* * *

A few hours later, mother and daughter were stretching their legs vegging out, Chloe on the couch, Ivy in her comfy computer chair organizing files and lesson plans after an afternoon of shopping, lunch, and annoying eye rolls and groans from Ivy when Chloe would point out cute guys and a few girls she thought Ivy should get to know. Chloe teasingly gave in, respecting that her daughter was focused on her career for the time being.

Chloe’s tablet suddenly produces a few jingles and pings, excitedly Chloe closes her current tab to answer the video call.

“Hey babe!” Chloe greets her wife.

“Hey cutie!” Beca grins. Aging had been fair to the younger woman, old is an attitude Beca refuses to succumb to, so when the gray hairs became more and more frequent, Beca said fuck it, and dyed her hair a gorgeous metallic silver, which is what it has been for years, it makes the crow’s feet less noticeable and allows Beca to look the part of a wise and jovial old grandmother.

“Lemme see our daughter, Chlo!” Beca says excitedly

Chloe smiles as she turns the tablet around to face Ivy. “Say hi to Mom, sweetheart,”

“Hi Mom. I miss you so much,” Ivy blows Beca a kiss.

Beca playfully rolls her eyes, “Excuses excuses, you better let me come up there and see you, young lady.”

Ivy chuckles. “It’s an open-door policy. You, Mama, Logan, and Abby are always welcome, and I always try to fly home for the holidays so none of this guilt trip shit, old lady!”

Chloe giggles, at her wife and their daughter trading barbs.

Beca snickers too, “Alright, I suppose I can let you off the hook since you’re a famous scientist,” Beca pauses for dramatic effect, “And my daughter too. Love you honey!”

“Love you too!” Ivy shouts.

Chloe turns the tablet around so she can chat with her beautiful wife. “So did the band live up to all the hype, Babe?” Chloe asks.

Beca huffs out in amused disappointment, “God no. They were like a group of singing Plutonium Bombs.

“That bad, huh?”

Beca nods, “Well not _all_ bad some good came out of this trip.”

“Yeah, what would that be?” Chloe asks.

Beca smiles adoringly, “I get to come home to you a day earlier!”

Chloe tries and fails to push down the giggle. “Are you saying you miss me?”

“Duh,” Beca says, “Your love is my drug, Chlo!” she admits shamelessly.

“Am I your heroin?” the redhead asked.

“You’re my white tar heroin!” Beca professes like she’s possessed.

Chloe clasps her chest in an exaggerated manner while blushing, a devilish smirk creeps up her face as her next comment pops into her mind. “Does that mean you need me inside your body?” she asks.

“Oh my god,” Ivy mumbles in the background while squinting trying to pretend she hates what she’s hearing.

“Hmmm,” Beca scrunches her nose as if pondering it, a wicked smile emerges, one rivaling even her wife’s, “Maybe when I get back you can show me just how much you missed me, then I can show you!”

Chloe gasps. “Mrs. Mitchell are you trying to seduce me?”

“Guilty!” Beca raises her right hand.

“But my wife might get jealous!” Chloe says.

“So, don’t tell her,” Beca winks seductively.

“Why are you two like this?” Ivy grumbles. Chloe looks over to see her daughter with her head dropped in her hands, shaking it. Her mothers are so sappy it’s pretty gross, Okay it is kinda cute, Chloe is sixty-one and Beca’s pushing sixty, they’re still madly in love with each other. As long as Ivy can remember, it’s been that way. Romantic lines, heart eyes, lingering glances, and sometimes her moms would excuse themselves from the dinner table or whatever family activity to abruptly sneak upstairs, only to re-emerge an hour or so later. It used to confuse the young girl until Logan had to awkwardly spell out what their moms were doing.

Ivy’s moms are one of those rare couples who truly mean it when they tell strangers they are happily married.

Beca cackles, almost snorting at her daughter’s comment.

“Sweetheart,” Chloe smiles adoringly at hers and Beca’s daughter, “Your mom and I hope that when you find your special someone that you both never leave the honeymoon phase.”

“Honeymoon phase? God you guys are so cliched.” Ivy says.

Chloe turns back to her tablet screen. “I’ll call you tonight when I go to bed, and tomorrow when I check into the hotel.”

“Definitely call me when you check in and get to your room. Maybe I’ll give you a little pregame show, let you know what to expect in a few days” Beca winks again.

The sound of a drawer sliding open is loud enough for both women to hear, Chloe watches her daughter yank out a pair of noise deafening headphones. Both women laugh.

“Love you, Baby!” Beca blows a kiss to the camera.

“Love ya, Babe!” Chloe blows a kiss back.

The call ends and Chloe Mitchell slumps back on the sectional. She contemplates how lucky she is, perfect son, perfect daughter, smoking hot wife who still has the hots for her, a family that keeps in constant weekly contact with each other. Chloe lets herself fall onto cloud nine.

* * *

“I’m not laying with your stinky feet in my face,” Chloe teases as she fluffs her pillow. Both women are about to go to sleep, but trying to figure out how Ivy would lay on the sectional had turned into a debate. Chloe will be sleeping on the short part of the L shaped couch while Ivy sleeps across the long part.

“Fine, Mama,” Ivy smiles. “Head-to-head it is.”

Both women who are nearly the spitting image of each other rest on their knees in their pajamas, Chloe and Ivy lean over to share a tight warm hug which reminds them of home, their past and the future. They peck each other on the cheek before settling in and shutting off the lamp. Ivy’s head lay perpendicular to her mom’s with less than a foot separating them.

“I love you honey.” Chloe whispers.

“I love you too Mama!” Ivy yawns.

“You know you’re totes gonna migrate over to my side to snuggle with me in the morning.” Chloe whispers knowing her daughter.

“I’m too old to snuggle.”

“You’re never too old to cuddle with your Mama.”

“Yeah, yeah. You better not snore in my ear.” Ivy relents knowing full well her mom is right. Ivy loves her parents, every moment she can spend with them is a moment to be cherished. Chloe gives the best hugs when she snuggles and at twenty-six the soon to be Dr. Ivy Mitchell has no shame in admitting she loves them as much if not slightly more than planets, moons, and all the stars that span the cosmos.

“Goodnight,” both women whisper to each other.

_The end._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Ivy HAS had sex on that couch, but Chloe doesn’t need to know that.
> 
> *When I first conceived then starting plotting this story, originally it was going to be Beca who dropped by to visit Ivy. I changed it two Chloe for two reasons. First, Beca would’ve just asked if Ivy had sex on that couch, laid out the sheet then left it at that. But CHLOE would turn it into a humorous slightly awkward conversation with her daughter. Second in Red Dwarf Star, and in this I established that Ivy was quite similar to Beca in personality (not that she doesn’t have traits from Chloe, she barged into her brother’s room if you remember) and Logan had a more formal disposition like Chloe. And I wanted to establish that despite having a disposition similar to the parent opposite of who gave birth to them, the children are extremely close with both parents regardless.
> 
> *I’m not accepting prompts for this series.


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